Conventional concrete earth retaining walls are commonly used for architectural, site development and roadway/highway construction applications. When roadways are located above or rest on top of the completed earth retaining wall, a traffic barrier is required to prevent vehicles from falling off of the retaining wall. Therefore, a traffic barrier is required to contain the impact from vehicles to keep them from falling over the retaining wall. The objective of the current invention is to minimize the concrete required for this purpose of using an exemplary shaped counterweight stem to capture more of the soil backfill weight located behind the earth retaining wall above the stem location to act as a counterweight and prevent barrier movement.